US boycotts Mahmoud Ahmadinejad speech at UN

The United States boycotted President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's speech at the
United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday as thousands protested outside
the building about the Iranian leader's hate-mongering.

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad gestures as he attends the high level meeting on rule of law in the United Nations General AssemblyPhoto: AP

By Mark Hughes, New York

9:30PM BST 26 Sep 2012

In his address, Mr Ahmadinejad criticised the US over the manner of Osama bin Laden's killing and questioned the motives of Barack Obama and Mitt Romney in wishing to be president. He described Israel, whose delegates were absent because it was the Yom Kippur holy day, as "uncivilised Zionists".

Mr Ahmadinejad's offensive language in UN addresses has prompted Western diplomats to walk out in past years. But yesterday the US announced beforehand that its delegates would not attend. The UN building in New York was the target of a large crowd of protesters condemning Iran's threats against Israel, days after Mr Ahmadinejad expressed his hopes that the country would be "eliminated".

Britain sent three officials to the speech. They had been instructed to walk out if he said anything offensive. David Cameron and William Hague were both in New York, but neither the Prime Minister nor the Foreign Secretary attended.

Mr Ahmadinejad called September 11 a "tragic incident" but suggested that an "independent fact-finding team" should have prepared the world for the perpetrators to be brought to justice "instead of killing and throwing the culprit into the sea without trial".

In an apparent swipe at the US presidential elections, he suggested that those who ran lavish campaigns were beholden to the people who funded them.

Earlier this week Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, hinted that his country was prepared to take pre-emptive action against Iran over its nuclear programme. The Iranian president spoke of the "continued threat by the uncivilised Zionists to resort to military action against our great nation".